Forget Me Not
by DelphiProphesy
Summary: Title may change. Cloud loses everything and attempts suicide but is found by one Zack Fair. Upon waking up Cloud has no memory of who he is so it becomes Zack's job to help him remember. Cloud x Zack Rated M for suicide, substance abuse and smut.
1. Jumper

Limp blond spikes drooped over down turned blue eyes as he studied the vertical cuts running along the tender underside of his arm

Summary: After loosing seemingly everything, Cloud falls into a deep depression and coupled with a growing alcohol dependency attempts suicide. Lucky for him he's found by Zack and his best friend Vincent and is rushed to the hospital. Cloud wakes up but with no memory of who he is. Will Cloud sink back into his depression? Or will Zack and his friends help him find a new lease on life?

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters. I just enjoy forcing them to bend to my will. Dance my puppets dance!

Warnings: Death, suicide, yaoi, yuri, sex, het, and anything else my twisted mind can come up with. Oh and I have no beta so all kinds of spelling and grammatical errors.

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Limp blond spikes drooped over down turned blue eyes as he studied the vertical cuts running along the tender underside of his arm. The marks glared back up at him, angry and red dripping crimson tears down his pale wrists and into his palms. There were four of the deep cuts; one for every person he'd lost in the last nine months.

The first was for his mother. She was the first person to offer him true unconditional love and served as his personal pillar of strength, raising him on her own after his father had left them, working to support both herself and young son, and always serving as the only comfort for a son who would often come home in tears after being repeatedly bullied by the people of their small town. Two years ago his strong and invincible mother was diagnosed with cancer. She fought bravely with the disease and held on as long as she could, but her son could only watch as the best medical care they could afford failed and his mother withered away. He buried her nine months ago.

The next two scars were for his two best friends; Cid and Barett. The young man had met them in his second year of high school, five years ago. The two boys had moved into town early in the young man's sophomore year and lucky for him they had a thing for under dogs. They quickly spotted the young man being picked on and decided to take him under their wing. The young man looked up to these two boys; they were everything he was not. While he was shy, quiet, reserved and severely lacking in confidence; they were loud, outgoing, and didn't take crap from anyone. Cid was a cocky fly boy, always dreaming of becoming a pilot. He was loud, brash and friendly, a class cloud of sorts, and if not for choosing the young man as a friend he could have been one of the most popular kids in their class. Barett was a big guy, the muscle of their little trio, and had the shortest fuse of any one imaginable with a mouth like a sailor. But the man had a good heart, always true to his cause and his friends. Four months ago Cid's dream of flying finally came true when he earned his pilot's license. He had rented a plane and had invited Barett and the young man to take off with him for the weekend and let his two best friends be his first passengers. Barett had called out of work right away, but the young man unfortunately couldn't get off. He hugged his friends goodbye and promised that next time he'd be with them. It was the last time he ever saw them. Apparently there was an unforeseen error with the plane, and combined with Cid's showy flying, that error led to their disastrous accident.

The death of his mother coupled with the death of his two best friends pushed the young man into a deep depression that left him all but lifeless. He just couldn't bring himself to care any more. His grades at college were slipping, he stopped showing up to work, began drinking heavily, and he just couldn't bring himself to care.

There was however one person left working to try and pull him out of the hole he was sinking into, his girlfriend Tifa. She was trying everything she could think of, being a shoulder to cry on, taking him out, getting him to councilors, but nothing seemed to get him out of his depressed state. One day Tifa decided that she just couldn't handle her boyfriend's depression any longer.

"_Baby what am I going to do with you?" The woman ran a hand through her long dark brown hair. She was frustrated, he could tell. Her wine colored eyes looked down at him with mixed feelings of hurt, anger, fear, and sympathy among other things. Her boyfriend hadn't left the house in two weeks and it seemed like no matter what she did he just wouldn't get up off his large black cushy chair. She thought that at this point there would be a permanent indent from his being there so long._

"_What do I have to do? What will it take to make you better? I just can't stand seeing you like this any more love." She bent down onto her knees to look up into his eyes pleadingly. All he could bring himself to do was give her a blank look and then slowly look away. He knew that she cared and that she just wanted to help, but right now he didn't want her help. He just wanted to be alone._

_Tifa launched herself up from the ground, giving him an angry glare. "Damn it! I have done everything for you! All I want is for you to be better, to get your life back together. Do you think that this is what they would have wanted? Cid and Barett and your mother? They never would have wanted this and you know it!" She threw an accusing finger in his direction, her ample chest heaving underneath her white t-shirt. She was passionate in her anger and she'd had enough of being ignored._

"_I have had enough of this. God knows I love you, and all I could ever want is for you to go back to the way you were, before all of this, but I can't keep this up. It's been months, and this isn't going anywhere." She took in a deep breath to calm and steady her for what she had to say next. "I love you, baby, but I'm leaving. Promise me you'll call when you get your life on track, or you're ready for help…"_

_With that she grabbed her coat off the hook by the door and left._

That had been a little less then a month ago and he'd just let himself get worse. That last mark was for her. She wasn't dead but as far as he was concerned she'd left him just like every one else.

He finally looked up for a moment to take in his surroundings. He'd known where he was going when he left the house with a half empty bottle of gin clutched in his hand and blood dripping from his fingers, but hadn't really been looking and watching his path. He was sitting slumped agenced a lit street lamp by a bridge carrying cars over the local river; he couldn't recall its name in his drunken state. The bridge had an old world look to it, made of thick stone that was carved smooth along the top. He took one last swig from his gin bottle, finishing it off, and rose on shaky legs to stumble towards the bridge. He came to the peak of the bridge and placed his hands on the cold stone surface and looked over for a moment before lifting himself onto the edge. He stood there still but swaying looking down into the black water. The wind picked up for a moment blowing his thin black shirt around him and then died, signaling the approach of winter. He looked down at his worn blue jeans and bare feet for a moment before switching to the black river below him. _I wonder if the water's cold…_ he pondered in his drunkenness. He let a small chuckle escape his lips at the absurdity of his thought. The small chuckle, however, didn't stop there; bubbling up to become hysterical laughter. He threw his head back laughing and opened his eyes to look at the darkened sky. His breathing evened out as his laughter finally died leaving him staring at the full moon above him, to burn it into his mind as his last living memory. With one last smile sliding over his lips he closed his eyes spread his arms and jumped…

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Hmmmm, is he dead? Did he survive? I'll never tell! … Well at least until my next chapter.

This is my first piece of FFVII fan fiction so please be kind and review!


	2. Found Me

Thanks to every one who reviewed my first chapter! I love you all, you've made me so very happy :D :D

As for what's up with this chapter, it's not too exciting, mostly background info on Zack but with some interesting stuff in there, but be warned that I was reeeeeaaaaally tired when I finished this so it might sound a little funny towards the end. The next chapter will be more plot related, I promise. Other then that please read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters.

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"Damn it! If I have to sit through him talking about some girl I should meet one more time…" The exasperated twenty something ranted fisting his dark spikes as he continued his brisk walk towards the river. "I have told Angeal, like, a billion times that I'm GAY and that that's not changing." He had just had a visit from his older brother, ending in yet another disagreement about his sexual orientation.

"You know he means well, Zack." The tall pale, black-haired man trailing behind him said in an attempt to calm his fuming friend. Vincent, the tall man was named, had followed his younger friend and roommate out of their apartment to make sure he didn't do anything stupid in his irritated state. "You know how traditional your parents are. And Angeal is only trying to mend your relationship with them the best way he knows how. He still loves you but I think he just wants to see you all as a family again."

Zack stopped and turned to face the other man, "if he loves me, if _they_ love me, why the hell can't they just accept me for who I am? I've tried for them, God knows I have but it just doesn't work." He turned back to his original path veering off the well lit sidewalk to venture down a seldom used pathway into the trees. "I mean I had a chance to be with one of the sweetest, prettiest people I've ever met but I gave it up because I knew that, for me, it just wasn't the right thing. I gave up Aeris because I knew that I just couldn't be in love with a woman." Zack's anger had died down and became hurt as he paused for a moment hanging his head in thought.

Aeris had always been so good to him, so attentive to his needs, kind and understanding, and for a girl extremely attractive. They had had a good run, you could say, but they were more like best friends then a couple. When things had ended between them it had been mutual, Aeris had realized early on that there was something different about Zack but couldn't put her finger on it until the night she had first tried to get him into bed. Zack had been scared out of his mind when she had shown up with a pink bag and shown him what was inside…

_Zack had hopped off of the couch as soon as he heard the knocking on his apartment door. He hadn't been expecting company but he was never one to turn someone away. And besides, he was lonely, Vincent had gone out on a date with some new guy that he picked up at the bar the night before. It wasn't that Vincent was any kind of playboy but he just had a hard time telling people no. Tomorrow Vincent would probably be asking Zach for advice on politely turning this guy down for date number two._

_When Zack answered his door he was surprised to be greeted by a smiling Aeris. "Hello Zack," she said in her usual happy tones._

_Zack stepped aside and allowed her to enter the apartment. "Oh hey honey, I thought you were out with your mom today."_

"_Oh, I was. But we finished early and she wanted to get home and take care of the garden. Is Vincent in?"_

"_No he's out on a date, probably won't be back for a while, so I have the place to myself for the night. Did you want to do the usual tonight? I can order some pizza or Chinese while you pick out a movie?" Zack started heading towards the phone by the kitchen._

"_Actually, I had something else in mind," Aeris placed her hands around his bicep and led him to the couch._

"_Ok…what did you have in mind?" Zack sat down next to the brunet looking slightly nervous. He had an idea of where this was going, but he wasn't sure if he could handle that just yet._

_She produced a small pink bag and handed it to her boyfriend. "I was thinking we could do something with this." A light shade of pink began to tinge her cheeks. She'd never been this forward before, but their relationship had been so PG that she just didn't know how else to tell Zack that she wanted to take things to the next level._

_Zack cautiously opened the bag and took out its contents. Under a layer of tissue paper neatly folded was a white lace lingerie set consisting of a very small pair of lacey panties and sheer baby doll styled top. Zack's eyes grew wide and his face turned crimson as he extracted the top piece of the set. "I… oh… uhhh. Oh my…" Zack sputtered._

"_Oh Zack, I'm sorry. I usually don't do things like this but, after 6 months we've barely done more then kiss. I just didn't know how else to tell you that I wanted more. I should have been more patient." She took the items back from Zack and held them in her lap. "Do… you not want me Zack? Did I do something wrong?" Her voice was soft and she kept her green eyes downcast._

"_I… I wouldn't say that. It's just that I've never… I've never done any of that stuff before." Now it was his turn to look down. Zack had never told any one that before. Because of his confident charm and good looks everyone just seemed to assume that he had plenty of experience in the bedroom and Zack had never bothered to correct them._

_Aeris looked shocked at the admission. "You mean you're a virgin? I never would have known. I didn't know. But why? You're very attractive, you have such a wonderful charisma, and you're so caring. You could have any girl you wanted." She took one of his hands in her own smaller ones, gently rubbing it in soothing motions._

"_Well," he stopped to consider his answer for a moment, "I guess I've just never wanted any one like that before." He looked up at her, slightly confused by his answer. Had he really never wanted a physical relationship with anyone? Well there was one person but that had been just a one sided fantasy._

"_Surely there must be someone?" She looked at him with a soothing smile, showing that she was ready to listen and help._

"_Well there was one person…"_

That night had been three years ago when he was twenty. Zack spilled his guts to his then girlfriend. He had told her of his desires concerning a boy he had grown up down the street from and how he had turned to his older brother Angeal for advice. His parents were very traditional people and would never accept an alternative lifestyle, so Angeal had told him that it was probably just a phase and that he should do his best to forget about those urges and desires. And that's what Zack did. After that Zack took all of his 'unnatural' urges and bottled them up until he more or less forgot about them. But that night he and Aeris made a great deal of progress and, with her help, discovered that he was in fact gay.

They had obviously decided to break up but stayed very good friends. While Aeris was disappointed at first, she was supportive and even helped him meet his first few boyfriends. She even brought Vincent into the situation to help coach Zack and take him out.

Vincent, like Aeris, had thought that there was something a little different about Zack but it hadn't dawned on him until Aeris asked him to take him out to meet some guys. Vincent could have kicked himself for not realizing it sooner and even thought of asking Zack out himself after finding out but decided it would be best to preserve their friendship and not scare him out of the apartment.

"Zack?" Vincent stepped forward and placed his hand on Zack's red cotton clad shoulder. He was still dressed in his red button up and nice jeans from Angeal's visit, he hadn't even put on a jacket when leaving his home.

Zack looked up startled for a moment, "Hu?" Blinking a few times he took in his surroundings. Apparently he had continued wondering while he thought, his feet taking him on a familiar path through the woods down to his favorite spot by the river. "I guess I kind of zoned out there." Zack brought a hand to the back of his neck.

Vincent quirked an eyebrow, "you could say that."

"Guess it's a good thing I come down here so often. I don't even need to look at where I'm going anymore." He turned away from his friend and climbed up onto his favorite perch, a large rock embedded into the bank but resting partly in the water. It was his favorite spot to think, to get away from the world for a little while. He sat at the top and let his feet dangle over the edge towards the water and leaned back on his hands, looking up at the night sky.

Vincent walked up beside the rock and turned to the spiked haired young man. Sighing he said, "I'm sure they'll come around one day. But, until then at least you've got me, Aeris, and the rest of your friends."

"Thanks Vin." The young man turned to his friend and gave him a genuine smile. "I hope my folks come around someday." His eyes focused on Vincent and then to the distance for a moment when he noticed something out of place. His brows drew together focusing on the object in the distance. "What is that…?" Then his eyes widened with realization, "holey shit! That's a guy!" Getting to his feet and jumping from the rock in one fluid motion, he bolted to the body that had washed up on the bank, Vincent following close behind.

Zack dropped to his knees by the motionless form and flipped it over to lie face up. He was met by the face of a boy, probably just a few years younger then himself, with skin that was much paler then it should be, and blond hair that was matted down with dirt and water.

"Is he dead?" asked a wide eyed Vincent.

"I, I don't know. He's not breathing. Shit, shit, shit! What do we do?" Zack was on the verge of panicking, grabbing and tugging at black spikes with wide shocked eyes.

"Here," Vincent said, being the first one to come to his senses. "You were a life guard a few summers ago right?" The younger man nodded. "Then you give him mouth to mouth and see if you can get him breathing. I'm going to call an ambulance and go back up to the road to flag them down. You got it?"

The spiky haired man nodded again with a determined look on his face. "Got it." He moved himself over the body as Vincent took off up the path to the street. He took the boy, pinching his nose and opening his mouth, and began trying to get him breathing. Alternating breathing into his mouth and pressing his chest Zack began to worry that he was too late to help this boy.

"1, 2, 3, 4 …Damn it, wake up!" And as if willing the young body back to life the head turned and he began to cough up a good portion of the river. "That's it, get it all out," Zack said easing the young man up and patting him gently on the back. The blond didn't open his eyes or acknowledge the individual helping him; he just took in several large gulps of air and unconsciously laid his head onto his rescuer's chest.

"Thank God," Zack let out a relieved breath and turned his head to the sky for a moment before looking at the body in his arms. "Let's see if we can get an I.D. on you." He began inspecting the young blond for some kind of identification as well as any other serious injuries and stopping at his wrists. There he spotted the long cuts, four vertical lines two on each wrist. There was still a small trickle of blood running down each but it looked like they were starting to clot. "Shit," Zack said, his voice and expression heavy with concern. He laid the blond down long enough to remove his red shirt and then his white undershirt, using the undershirt as a temporary dressing for the wounds on the boy's arms. Replacing the dress shirt he finished searching the pale body for his I.D. finding only a school identification card in his back pocket. He picked up the youth again as he heard the sound of approaching ambulance sirens and looked at the limp form and pale face. "Cloud Strife hu? What happened to you?"


	3. Heal Me

Hey everyone! I'm soooooooooo sorry that I took so long to get this posted. I work in retail and with the holidays almost here it's been pretty crazy, so I haven't had much if any time to write. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed!!! I love you all and probably wouldn't have the will to write if it wasn't for your kind words. :D

Usual disclaimers apply, don't own, don't make any money blah blah blah…

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Vincent came rushing down the hill followed by three paramedics. "They're over here." Vincent called waving the paramedics over. "How's he doing?" The tall man asked when he reached Zack and the unconscious blond.

"Well I've got him breathing but he's got some pretty bad cuts on his arms. I have no idea how much blood he might have lost." Zack looked up from the young man in his arms to his black clad friend.

"I take it this is our patient?" asked the first paramedic to reach the scene. He had with him a large bag filled with emergency supplies which he set aside to begin feeling for a pulse. The two that followed him, one male and one female, were carrying a stretcher. "I've got a pulse but it's not very strong. Looks like you two got here just in time. You guys friends with him?" The paramedic didn't even look up from his ministrations to ask the question. Instead he pulled a flashlight from his bag to inspect his patient's eyes.

"No, we don't know him at all my friend and I were out walking when I spotted him washed up on the bank. I gave him CPR while Vincent there called you guys." Zack's eyes fallowed the man's hands as he spoke. The man nodded as he worked and turned to the make shift bandages Zack had wound around the young blonde's arms.

"Damn, these look bad. We need to get him to the hospital before they get infected." The paramedic looked up for the first time and said to his assistants, "load him up."

The two quietly came over and took Cloud from Zack's hands, putting a neck brace on to keep his head from moving too much and then placing him on their stretcher. They lifted the boy and hurried up the hill as best they could with their cargo.

The lead paramedic grabbed his bag and got up to follow. Zack rose along with him and followed the man up the hill.

"Can I ride with you? I did more or less keep the guy alive till you got here." Zack asked the paramedic.

"Unfortunately I can't. You're not family or his spouse plus there really isn't room for anyone else in the ambulance. If you want to though you can drive up to Mt. View hospital, that's where we're taking him, and try to see him. What's your name?"

"Zack, Zack Fair."

"Well I'm Joe. When you get there go to the lady at the front desk and tell her that you're Zack and that you called in the guy Joe just brought in. I'll tell her you're coming and she'll make sure that a doctor speaks with you. It's probably best that you get up there anyway because if the cops have to get involved they'll want you and your buddy's statement." They had finally reached the top of the hill and road when Joe turned to face him.

Zack nodded, a serious look on his face, taking in all of Joe's information. "Thanks, I appreciate this. I kind of feel responsible for making sure this guy's ok." He looked at the opened back doors of the ambulance.

"Good on ya then." Joe said. "Not too many people feel that way any more. Listen before we take off did anything else wash up with him? Extra clothes, bottles, an I.D. or wallet?"

"Yeah," Zack said producing from his pocket the student I.D. he'd found on Cloud. "I checked him for I.D. when I got him breathing. Curious I guess. This was all I found."

"Hurry the hell up Joe!" The female paramedic called from her spot in the rear for the ambulance. "Do you want to get this kid to Mt. View or not?"

"Coming Maureen!" he yelled back. "Thanks Zack. I'll be seeing you later." With a quick wave he grabbed the I.D. and leapt into the back of the vehicle as it sped away with sirens blaring.

The raven haired man watched it go, zoning out until a hand was placed on his shoulder. Jumping with a slight 'meep' Zack turned large eyes toward the hand's owner, Vincent. "Damn, Vin! Don't scare me like that!" Zack placed a hand on his chest in an overly dramatic fashion. "Where've you been?"

Vincent let out a soft chuckle. "I've been standing with you almost the whole time. You just have such a one track mind that you didn't notice."

"Well if you weren't so fucking ninja maybe I'd hear you sneaking around," Zack placed his hands on his hips giving Vincent a mock glare. Vincent rolled his eyes at the childish display, but at this point he knew he should expect such things from Zack. He had his moments of intelligence but for the most part his spiky haired friend was just a big kid.

"Come on Zack. I know you're just itching to get to that hospital and know what's going on with your new little friend. Let's get back to the apartment and get my car, I'll drive us there."

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A few hours later found Zack and Vincent sitting side by side in a florescent lit white waiting room. They had already talked to the lady at the front desk, Jillian was her name, and she had them waiting for the doctor. Jillian had explained to them that Cloud's condition was stable but a little more serious then originally thought and the doctor was running several tests on the young man to attempt to determine what had happened. Unfortunately she couldn't tell them anymore with out the consent of either the patient or patient's family.

Zach let out his 27th exasperated sigh sense he'd been shown to his seat. Sitting normally had become too boring and in his restlessness the young man had taken to finding different positions in which to occupy his seat. Currently he had kicked off his shoes and was sitting upside down with his feet resting on the pristine white wall.

"We can leave you know. I don't mind coming back later." Vincent turned to look at his clearly bored companion.

"No I don't want to leave. It's just that I want to know what's going on. This waiting is driving me crazy."

Red eyes sparkled with a contained chuckle, "never one for patience, Zack. You're worse then a puppy." The man's lips quirked in a small smirk.

"Are you the gentlemen I was asked to speak with?" The two friends looked up from their banter to see a small Indian woman in a white lab coat. Her hair was tied back in a strict bun and a stethoscope hung around her neck, she had a kind smile on her tanned face but her eyes shone with concern. "I'm Dr. Adani." She held out her hand to the two rising young men. "I understand that you're the ones that came in for Mr. Strife?"

"Yes we are," Vincent spoke up.

"Is he alright?" Zack was already beginning to feel an attachment to the little blond he had saved and wanted to know about his wellbeing.

"Currently he is still unconscious, but he is stable and should be coming around eventually. I can't say exactly when, these kinds of things can be tricky to predict. I can't say much more than that until I come into contact with his family. I'm sure that Jillian already explained that to you both." They nodded in response. "We're currently trying to contact Mr. Strife's school to get his family or spouse's contact information and inform them of the situation. It could be some time before we can come into contact with anyone seeing as its 3:00 in the morning, so I'd suggest that the two of you go home and get some sleep. If you'd like you can leave your contact information and we can call you in as soon as we get word from the family."

"Yes we'd like that." Zack said nodding to the doctor and then taking a quick glance at Vincent who also nodded.

"Good I'll have someone call you as soon as we have word. I'm sure the family would like to meet the people who saved their son. Now go on home." She gave them a soft smile and motioned them to the exit.

"Thank you doctor," was the last thing the spiked youth said as he turned toward the exit followed by a silent Vincent.

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Several hours later bleary wine colored eyes looked up at worried stormy blue. Vincent had been woken by and incessant shaking that he now realized was coming from his wide awake roommate. Slowly the older man stretched and turned to face his alarm clock. 9:30 AM, while the silent man usually required eight plus hours of sleep, he supposed that six hours was better then nothing.

"I take it Dr. Adani called?" Vincent asked covering a yawn and having another long full body stretch, attempting to wake his tired body. Zack's response was just a series of quick nods. It was unusual for Zack to be so quiet or up this early. "Well what did she say?"

"She said that they had gotten in touch with his school, but that according to their records he has no living family. As far as they know he doesn't have any one to contact. She asked us to come in and talk with him when he comes to, which they think will be soon. She asked if we'd be responsible for helping him until he can be on his own. The doctor said that she couldn't tell me much more about his condition until he wakes up but apparently it's pretty serious." Zack's expression held nothing but concern, he looked worried and frazzled almost jittery. He was always trying to be the hero and apparently he was letting it get to him.

"So I take it you volunteered us then to baby-sit?" An elegant black eyebrow was raised as the question was asked.

"Well… yeah. Can we just go now? I want to get there and figure out what else is going on."

With that the two ravens found themselves once again in the white waiting room of the hospital, twiddling their thumbs.

"Mister Fair, Mister Valentine?" A young blond nurse read from her clip board standing in the doorway of the waiting area.

"That's us!" Zack said practically jumping to his feet.

"Follow me," she said in a professional manner, a contrast to her brightly colored scrubs that were decorated with carton characters.

The nurse led them down a series of hallways complete with several turns and doors that cautioned visitors to be quiet or to throw away their food and drink before entering. By the time they had reached their destination, Zack was sure that he'd never be able to find his way back.

"Please have a seat; the doctor will be with you in a moment." She gestured to a bench positioned agenced the wall of the hallway they had stopped in. She then turned and left, presumably to attend to other patients.

The hall they had been left in had a series of doors along both sides along with charts and plastic holders along the walls. While the walls were white the doors themselves were solid brown wood with golden numbers centered on them. Most of the doors were closed but a few were opened, revealing sleeping patients or neatly made beds awaiting use.

The two men didn't have to wait long for the same doctor from last night to approach them, coming form the room situated directly across from where Zack and Vincent had been sitting. The door had been closed previously but as Dr. Adani slipped out, closing the door behind her, Zack caught a glimpse of unruly golden hair.

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Sorry for ending this here, please don't hurt me! *cower* I had initially wanted to end this chapter with Cloud and Zack's first conversation but unfortunately due to my limited writing time I didn't know when I'd get to that, so I decided to give you something instead of making you wait longer. I hope that I can get the next chapter out faster then I did this one but unfortunately with the holidays upon us I can't make any promises. Until next time Peace!


	4. Talk to Me

OK for starters I would just like to say that I died and fell off the face of the earth there for a loooooong time. But it's Ok now because I've been magically resurrected and so I can update again! YAY! But seriously, it has been forever sense my last update (oh say two years or so?) and to all the folks who have waited for an update I really am sorry. I've noticed that even after more than 2 years I'm still getting hits and favorites on this piece and to all those folks out there I say YOU FUCKING ROCK MY WORLD! So this new chapter is for all of you guys who were hoping I'd get off my lazy rear and update. I can't make any promises on how frequently future updates will come but I'm going to do my best to try and see this story through.

Usual Disclaimers apply, I make no money off this and the characters of FF7 don't belong to me. I just like to borrow them for their yummy goodness. Omnomnomn :P

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The two friends were on the edge of their seats as the doctor approached them, looking grave. She gave them a small smile as Zach, with his usual boundless energy, bolted to his feet.

"What's going on? Can we see him? Is everything alright?" Zach began spitting out questions rapid fire, causing the small woman before him to grin just a little more at his energetic concern.

"Slow down," she said with a calming patient demeanor. "Physically he will be fine. His arms have been bandaged and stitched up, and while he did lose a good deal of blood we were able to get some back into him and he's O.K. for now. However what concerns me most is a head injury he received."

"Head injury? Was he attacked?" Asked Vincent from where he was still seated on the bench.

The doctor shook her head. "It doesn't seem like it. More than likely he hit his head during a fall. I'd rather not think about it but the evidence would suggest that he was a jumper."

Zack chose that moment to retake his seat, becoming more serious, eyes down cast. He had suspected as much when he saw the deep gashes in the boys arms after fishing him out of the river, but had been in such a rush to get him breathing he hadn't thought much about it. Now hearing the petite doctor say what he had suspected brought this Cloud Strife's, situation out into the open. The truth could be such an ugly thing. Raw and angry and displaying for all to see the horrors that came with life.

Vincent thought for a moment. "There's a small bridge not far from where we found him. Do you think that's where he… well … came from?" Vincent chose to word that last bit carefully. He could tell that Zack did not take that last bit of information Dr. Adani had revealed very well. Zack was always the chipper happy member to their group of friends, always looking for the good in everyone and every situation, and playing the hero for his friends in need. The darker situations in life were those he had trouble handling. For someone who always tried to see the positive it could be hard to know what to do with something so negative.

Dr. Adani nodded, eyeing the now quieter Zack from the corner of her eye, "it is a possibility. What I'm more concerned about is the effect that the injury has had on him. While there are no life threatening effects that we could find he is suffering from severe memory loss."

"Amnesia?" questioned Zack looking more interested in the conversation.

"That's would be correct. He has basic memories; his name, how to function from day to day, but as for his past, where he lives, any friends or family, all gone at the moment. In cases like this there's no telling if or when the patient will regain any of their memories. So as you can see it's very important for Mr. Strife to have someone to look after him until he can get his bearings straight, so to speak. Normally he would be released to his family but seeing as our patient has none to speak of, a couple of good Samaritans seemed like the next best option." She finished her small speech with a warm smile at the two young men sitting in front of her.

Vincent sat quietly with a calm yet attentive look on his face while out of the corner of his eye he could catch the shy grin spreading on the face of his spikey haired best friend.

Hopeful expression on his face, the lavender eyed youth looked to their kind doctor. "Can we see him now? I'd like to be able to meet him properly."

"Let me just check in on him quickly and I'll call you in." With that Dr. Adani turned back to the room she had just left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

"Do you think we can make a difference for him Vince?" Zack asked his friend seriously.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," the young man began, "this Cloud kid obviously had some problems before all this happened. Do you think we'll be able to help him? Maybe this bump on the head could be a fresh start and we could show him all the things worth living for."

Vincent turned crimson eyes to his thoughtful looking companion. "First off, I don't know what all this 'we' talk is about. As far as I'm concerned I'll help where I can but this is your project. And second, if anyone can help this kid out it's you, my friend."

Zack let one of his trade mark grins shine through at the last part of that statement. A grin so brilliant it was even rubbing off on Vincent as the doctor popped her head out of the room.

"He's ready to see you gentlemen."

The two gentlemen rose from their seats and were escorted into the room of the young man they had saved the night before.

"I'll leave you to get acquainted. There's a buzzer by the bed if you need anything." Dr. Adani excused herself to go and attend to her other patients.

Zack didn't quite know what he was expecting of their new charge, but it certainly wasn't the beauty calmly watching himself and Vincent from the clean white sheets of the hospital bed. The muck from the river of the previous night made it hard to see much of the young man that now sat before them. Pale skin, a little pinker then when they had first met, golden hair just as unruly as his own and stunningly big blue doe eyes. Zack couldn't help but think that this boy would also make an excellent girl. For the first time in recorded history Zack Fair, the bouncy babbling hyperactive puppy, was stunned into silence.

Upon noticing said silence Vincent turned his eyes to his companion only to see the best deer in headlights impression he'd ever witnessed. 'Oh my' the tall raven man thought sighing to himself and shaking his head with a small smile. "Hello, Cloud, my name is Vincent Valentine." Vincent approached the side of the bed and held out his hand in a friendly greeting. The noise and motion promptly brought Zack out of his daze.

"And I'm Zack. Zack Fair!" he followed Vincent's motions, his usual enthusiasm returning.

"Nice to meet you both. You already seem to know who I am." The fair youth took each of their hands in turn but couldn't help the quizzical look he gave the one who introduced himself as Zack. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life." The boy looked down shyly a slight blush taking his cheeks. Zack thought he might melt at that moment, if this boy got any cuter his head might explode.

'Wait! Bad Zack! Bad! This poor kid is probably scared and confused out of his wits and you're supposed to be helping him!' Zack then proceeded to shove any more of these 'cute' thoughts quickly to the farthest most reaches of his brain.

"Don't mention it," Zack said with a brilliant smile. "Sometimes you just have to do the right thing. I'm sure anyone else would have done the same."

The blond cherub shrugged. "I guess. But I think agreeing to take me in is going above and beyond the call of duty." He gave both the men a grateful look conveying just how grateful he was that he didn't have to be alone and cooped up in a hospital thanks to their generosity.

"Well we couldn't in good conscience just leave you, especially in your unique condition." This time Vincent spoke up eyeing Cloud seriously.

Cloud gathered up his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, obviously uncomfortable with his situation. "It's … strange, not knowing who you are. I'm not sure just how I feel about it yet." He eyed the bandages on his arms thoughtfully.

Zack decided it was time for a distraction at Cloud's somber mood shift. 'I've got to help this kid out. And now's as good a time as any to start.'

"I suppose we can go ahead and start getting you ready to leave. The Doc said that you're just fine to get out of here. I'll use the buzzer to get a nurse in here, they can probably grab us whatever papers need signing and get you something to change into, Cloudy." The spikey haired male then proceeded to hit the button signaling a nurse that they were needed.

"Cloudy?" The blond asked with a questioning look.

"Just go with it," Cloud turned to meet the red eyes of the man who'd just spoken. "Once he comes up with a nick-name for you it sticks whether you like it or not," he finished with said eyes doing a slight roll.

Within a few moments a nurse came knocking at the door to announce their presence.

"I have the release forums for Mr. Strife." The nurse, a young man in his mid-twenties, came over to Cloud presenting the aforementioned forums.

With a few quick signatures and change of clothes the trio was ready to leave the hospital and head back to Zack and Vincent's apartment.

…

Not the best stopping point in the world but didn't really have the time to go much further at the moment and I really really really wanted to get this out.


End file.
